The purpose of this paper is to study the correlation among growth and inflation at the OECD level, within the framework of the so-called convergence equations, and to discuss whether this correlation withstands a number of improvements in the empirical models, which try to address the most common criticisms of this evidence. The main findings are the following: 1) the negative correlation among growth and inflation is not explained by the experience of high-inflation economies; 2) the estimated costs of inflation are still significant once country-specific effects are allowed for in the empirical model; and 3) the observed correlation cannot be dismissed on the grounds of reverse causation (from GDP to inflation).

Published:

The Costs and Effects of Price Stability. Feldstein, Martin, ed., Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1999, pp. 315-341.